Pt nanoclusters as co-catalysts for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production is an ideal strategy to relieve the energy crisis. In this work, Pt nanoclusters are employed as a co-catalyst to modify g-C3N4 3 N 4 for optimizing the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance. Compared with the pristine g-C3N4, 3 N 4 , the Pt nanoclusterss/g-C3N4 3 N 4 nanocomposites exhibit dramatic enhancement toward H2 2 production, where the H2 2 evolution rate of CN-Pt-C2 is nearly 425.1 times higher than pristine g-C3N4. 3 N 4 . The phase structure, morphology, optical properties, and surface chemical states of the fabricated samples are fully investigated. Based on the systematical characterizations, the reason for the enhanced H2 2 generation performance is disclosed. It is expected this work can provide a valuable reference for the fabrication of a co-catalyst-based photocatalytic system.